Monday, June 25, 2012

I swear my visits to the orthodontist sometimes feel like a test of my pain threshold. You know that moment when you know someone is going to do something to hurt you, and there is nothing you can do about it- so you brace yourself? Then you can stand practically anything for like 10 seconds. A shot, blood drawing, splinter or ingrown hair... whatever. You can handle it.

SO at the ortho- they go to take the bands off, which always hurts. My bottom teeth are still super sensitive though, as they have been moving all month. (see exibits A and B below.) So I brace myself... ok taking bands off. It extra hurts but it has to be done. cool. cool. I only flinch a little.

She says I'll get the same wire. Cool. Then she takes the wire out after looking around a bit... hu? Then she comes back with a file looking skinny thing, and tells me its like a nail file and tells me I'll feel pressure between my bottom teeth. My super crowded, can hardly get floss in, sensitive bottom teeth...

I have but a split second to brace myself, and then it feels like the most cruel sandpaper being forced between my aching teeth. I flinched hard and she asked if I was OK- to which I quickly responded YES (part of the bracing of self hardcoreness I was attempting).

So she moves on to the other side of the tooth and, NO I'm not OK, and I am about to stop her and she's like "awww I know these teeth are sensitive, I'm almost done..." so I refrain. BUT DAMN. She attempts to go between one more, which I know I won't be able to tolerate, but this time she can't even get the "saw" in between the teeth. She says "wow, some very tight contacts here, this tooth has nowhere to go" and gives up. Pheeewwwww!! After re banding them- which was a breeze in comparison, she sends me off saying lets watch my bottom teeth continue to "unravel."

Now my whole bottom jaw is aching. Great.

But look how much they moved over the past month. (yep switched to silver on bottom after debating purple for a sec lol.)May 21st > June 25th

As for my hair...
I had been severely neglecting it over the past few weeks as I dealt with some ailments and tragedies in my family and around home. I had been starting off with a wash and go and then not moisturizing, not protecting it at night as I slept in various places (such as hospital suites, my childhood bed, a chair... standing up lol). I hardly had time to wash and de-tangle once in those few weeks, not at home, no deep conditioning, no time to protective style. So last week when I returned to work, while drifting off at my desk I was partaking in a nice hand in hair session when I noticed an abundance of single strand knots and hair that was simply coming off the end of my hair in my hand. Perturbed, I actually took my work scissors and cut away some of the worst offenders right then and there, rather than have them get lost in my hair again and begin to work in more innocent bystanders.

After another day of making the same discoveries knew I had to cut some hair off my ends all over and be done with it. :-(
I cut my hair wet with conditioner, with my professional sheers, practically curl by curl. I ended up taking off 1-1.5" all over. Hardly noticable while shrunken, but if I press again I've set myself back a few months.

Now imagine- some naturals never protect their hair at night, and don't know how to properly moisturize or seal their ends. 3 weeks and I effectively knotted up the ends of my hair. There really is something to taking those few extra steps to preserve length!! At home I have silk pillow cases, and I use castor oil to seal, steam in the shower, a few different leave ins... It doesn't take much, but it takes something.

My ends look great now! I took a few flicks of a chunk I pulled down yesterday. I have in it Paul Mitchel's The Conditioner, Eco styler gel and had refreshed with steam and Nubian Heritage (read this! the same thing happened to me in CVS when I picked this up) Heat Protect Leave-In Conditioning Cream Honey & Black Seed. It has a VERY strong scent and I'm not yet sure if I can deal, but I will keep you posted when I am able to try it alone.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Checking in real quick.
My brother had surgery and is in the recovery process now finally. Quite a scare he gave us. He's generally super active and healthy so this came out of left field. He had a spontaneous lung collapse that was not healing on its own. 3 chest tubes, a surgery and a full week later he went home. sigh. dangerous stuff.

So I got back to home after spending almost a week with him and my family, only to be hit with the passing of my grandfather. I had just gotten in contact with that branch of my family in 2004 (in ATL) and was enjoying the process of getting to know them. He picked me up for a drive a few years ago, and took me to meet some of my family down south. Then his health tanked and I didn't really get to see him again. But I went to the funeral and just got back yesterday. My family has deep southern roots :-) It was nice to see his actual home town (and my grandmother's), Monticello GA, and the tin roof houses and eat some real home cooking amidst the real purpose for my quick visit.

My grandfather and one of my uncles, me and my homegirls - on a trip to ATL in 2004.

Grandad and two of my uncles, (RIP Addison- not pictured)

The day after I got the news about my grandfather, the house next door to my house burned down, and I saw it on the news while at work... my house in the immediate back ground. I later learned that the news crews were assembled in my driveway! The circumstances surrounding the fire are suspicious to say the least, and now I have a boarded up, condemned house directly outside my BR windows. It was an absentee owner/landlord, renting out individual rooms to people who were mostly down on their luck (for lack of a better term). They are all displaced and the Redcross was helping them briefly- but pray for them in the meantime. I do, however, hope the owner looses the house and that the residents that were there will be replaced by a more traditional family or owner, fitting the rest of the neighborhood. Most of my neighbors are older empty nesters, families, or middle aged couples.

SOOOOOOOoooooo um. my hair....is on my head.
That's about it lol.
And my bottom teeth hurt with the new braces. They are definitely moving far and fast.

When this storm passes I will post more on our regularly scheduled content!